The Network - Full Runtime
A Film Sussex Selection | Inspirational films, on a Budget
Preparing for the 20th of May
As we approach the date of our new short course ‘From “No Budget” to No Excuses’ - we wanted to share a list of films to help our subscribers understand the spirit behind the course, and what can be achieved. There are a number of examples we will talk about, which have come from individuals experiencing great success. Something many of you can use as inspiration.
From No Budget to No Excuses is a hands-on, 4-week course where you’ll learn to plan, shoot, and edit a short film — using what you’ve already got.
🗓️ Starts: Tue 20 May 2025 | 4 x Tuesdays, 7–9 PM
📍 Electric Palace, Hastings
💷 £99
£45 for a full feature film? You're joking!
Marc Price - Colin
In the 00's and 2010's, zombies were a growing hit over the entertainment industry. Many of these creations had massive budgets when creating film and television programs, similarly in video game and illustration projects.
Jumping on the popularity train, Marc Price, writer and director of Colin, had no money when making this film. Infact, he was in debt. Despite the lack of funds, he managed to get two key things to make it work, good friends willing to take part in the production who had spare make-up and props, and a camcorder. Due to some issues in filming, primarily the camcorder breaking and needing to be replaced, this film took eighteen months to shoot. As everyone was working for free, and in Marc's words ‘we were making the film for ourselves’ availability also became an issue, particularly as it's a full feature.
If you're not aware of what Colin is? The story follows a young man who's been bitten by a zombie as the streets of London fill with chaos. The story follows his journey as a zombie roaming the neighbourhood, interacting with the people he struggles to recognise as the infection continues to spread. Alastair Kirton's performance was impressive in many areas. Intense acting starting from being first bitten, the infection spreading, then leading to his fully formed zombie self with no dialogue while showing glimpse of his human self still present within, all encompassed into one. This storyline is very different when it comes to the zombie characters, as they are often the monster the camera is running from alongside our living protagonists. Instead, we follow Colins journey, which is arguably worse than for those who run from him, which again, is different to what we have seen. Which is even more impressive when you know they only spent £45 on the production.
Price spoke about his collaboration with friend and make-up artist Michelle Webb, who was successful at the time of filming Colin, which meant her expertise would be passed on to the rest of the artists on the crew, as well as the left over bits she had as spare in the make-up box. In an interview with CNN, Marc and Michelle speak about the ways they cut costs when it came to things like fake blood, using coffee, mayonnaise and other household items to make huge gashes and infected wounds. The DIY approach to creating cost effective make-up definitely had an effect, as a neighbour who looked out of their window to see a pile of dead bodies and missing limbs, instantly panicked and called the police. Due to the lack of permission or knowledge of a film taking place, the authorities went down to investigate. Luckily for Price, the police didn't think it was worth giving anyone a warning when on the scene. Instead, they laughed, took pictures on their camera phones and left.
After filming was over, Colin would then be finalised at Marc's home, edited with an outdated version of Adobe. Once finished, him and the rest of the production looked at festivals they could enter, marketing the film as the ‘£45 Zombie Movie.’ This attracted a lot of attention, and debates did spring up about if the price was really that low. Regardless of what it might have been, it definitely wasn't the same as 28 Days Later, which had millions spent.
Colin was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and FrightFest, as well as others, and it looks like no awards had been won. But this didn't matter, because Marc and others on the production gained a status in their ambition and creativity, inevitably leading them all to further work in projects both with Price or with other filmmakers.
Colin is still spoken about today, and Marc Price is happy to mention Colin in interviews years after its release, hoping it can influence people to just go out and make something.
Got no gear, while creating an idea
Charlie Prodger - 2018 Turner Prize ‘Winner’ - Bridget
The Turner Prize is known for it’s prestigious selection of artistic candidates, opening many doors for those who exhibit each year. Many different artists who practice an array of mediums are up for grabs each year, but 2018 was special, as this was the first time candidates who had been selected to compete as finalists were all film makers. Each finalist had a different style, making the selection very special, which must have been very difficult to judge.
For now, we will focus on the winner, formerly known as Charlotte Prodger, now known as Charlie.
Headlines were made about this winner, as it was the first time a finalist of such a prestigious prize had won by using a phone. The reasoning behind this wasn’t just down to budget, but the sentiment behind it. The film is about the struggles and turmoil’s of isolation which many queer people face, and Charlie felt a close attachment to their phone. Charlie went through an identity crisis while studying in Glasgow, and felt like the city and culture was far from inclusive for them at the time, which lead to loneliness and depression. They filmed empty spaces in their apartment, their pet, and harrowing landscapes of West Scotland. Along side these visuals, poetry, music and anecdotes from their diary were included in its calm, inclusive and thought provoking film which highlighted these issues for them at the time.
Charlie Prodger was surprised and touched by their win, collecting a prize worth £25,000. The other artists unfortunately didn’t join Charlie with the win, but for many who saw the work and the Turner Prize that year, Forensic Architecture, Naeem Mohaiemen and Luke Willis Thompson, will be far from forgotten, due to the impact their work had.
‘Make it, get it done’
Kevin Smith - Clerks
Taking out a massive loan on credit cards is not the ideal way of funding anything, let alone passion projects. However, this is how Kevin Smith famously made Clerks. This is the first film Kevin made, which led to wins at different film festivals in 1994.
Many of you are most likely familiar with the story behind this, but incase some are unaware, it's definitely worth mentioning, as well as inspiring for those looking for new ideas.
The character Dante (played by Brian Christopher O'Halloran) came easy to Smith when writing, as it was based on himself. Not just because Smith was a convenience store worker at the time of filming, but because of the set. He made a deal with his boss that he could film on the location of his work, as long as it wasn't interferring with opening hours. The ways Smith got around this is humerous without background knowledge, and absolutely hilarious once aware of the clever ways he worked around this. As the shutters needed to stay closed to reduce interference when filming, it added a topic of conversation in the script. Dante would be asked by other characters why the store shutters are closed, which he would reply with ‘someone jammed gum in the locks.’
Despite the budget being small, Clerks cost $27,575 at of expense on Kevin's wallet. Casting friends and using his place of work as a location to shoot did bring the total down, but during this time you had to work with tricky equipment which was much more costly then digital cameras today. The process of cutting the frames had to be done manually, which was not the only difficult process. As Kevin would be filming in the stores hours of closure, he would have to film throughout the night, to then open the store and work throughout the day. This left him utterly exhausted after 21 days of filming, sleeping only an hour on some days.
To emphasise, it is never advised to get yourself into debt, and things could have gone horribly wrong if the film didn't take off. Kevin started to become incredibly nervious after his first film festival. Smith entered the film to be screened at the Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM) for $500, which didn't recieve the reaction he wanted. Because of the debt he faced, he started to wonder what the future would hold for his film career. Despite feeling the dread of paying back all this money, he still felt optimistic about making a film again. When speaking to YouTuber and film maker Gavin Michael Booth in his video Kevin Smith: How & Why He Made ‘Clerks’ he spoke about his conversation with Bob Hawk after watching the small screening, who was part of the Sundance Film Festival advisory committee, and heavily encouraged Smith to enter his film to Sundance. Kevin, at the time, thought the encouragement came from a place of feeling bad on Bob's end, especially as Bob wasn't known at this time to be an official committee member. Kevin stating (in Gavin's interview) ‘it felt like he was thinking, if I don't say something nice, this guy is gonna kill himself, this fat director is gonna kill himself tonight if I don't say something kind.’
If you listen to Kevin in the interview you can hear this morbid statement was said in jest, and evidently, this wasn't his intention as Smith stated before that once he paid off the debt, he would then make another film. Regardless, this does give a deep insight into the stress he felt at the time, but that was all going to change.
Luckily, Kevin Smith did listen to Bob Hawk, and entered the Sundnce Film Festival, which kicked off his career, and brought him to where he is today. Going from a potential failure, to being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2019. Which means, it is not just a cult classic, it is now one of the most important films in the states. Something 21 year old Kevin wouldn't have dreamed of.
Thanks for taking the time to read this edition of the Network - Full Runtime, we really appreciate your support.
Best wishes,
The Film Sussex Team
— PS Our next email will be arriving Monday.
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